FOXBOROUGH, Mass.—There was no pre-game meeting, no passing of wisdom. There was not so much as a handshake and a hello.

All week heading into Sunday’s game, rookie Andrew Luck and veteran Tom Brady were asked about each other, and all week they gave stock answers.

Yes, Brady is impressed by Luck’s poise. Yes, Luck grew up watching Brady and doesn't yet want to be mentioned in the same breath with him. But by the time kickoff rolled around at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Luck and Brady had not actually spoken to each other.

The two did manage a quick postgame handshake Sunday evening, but this still wasn't the kind of game from which Luck learned anything from talking directly to Brady.

The only lesson Luck could take came in the form of the final score—a 59-24 Patriots rout in which Luck was responsible for four turnovers while Brady (24-for-35, 331 yards, three touchdowns, 127.2 passer rating) was nearly flawless.

Asked about what it was like being the opposing quarterback to Brady, Luck said, “It (stunk) tonight because we lost by however much. I have never been big into, ‘Look at who the other quarterback is,’ or, ‘Look at who the other receiver is.’ ”

What Luck needs to take from this game has nothing to do with Brady. He needs to go back and take a hard look at how things went so dreadfully wrong after a promising start to the game.

On the first drive, Luck took advantage of the Patriots’ soft spot—deep balls over the top—by attacking defensive back Kyle Arrington, who gave up a 40-yard play when he clobbered receiver Donnie Avery for a pass interference call that led to a touchdown. Luck came back on the Colts’ second possession and went 6-for-7 passing, leading the team on a 10-play, 84-yard drive that netted another touchdown.

And then things started to go off the rails. Following a punt return touchdown for the Patriots’ Julian Edelman that tied the game, Luck made one of the worst throws of his young career by sailing a pass over the middle well over the head of Reggie Wayne and into the arms of Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib, who crisscrossed the field for a 59-yard touchdown.

Then with 3:37 to play in the third quarter and the Colts still within striking distance, Luck was sacked by Rob Ninkovich, who knocked the ball out of Luck’s hand and recovered the fumble to set up another Patriots score.

For another bit of insult, Luck started the fourth quarter with the Colts driving in Patriots' territory, but threw an ill-advised pass to Wayne. Patriots cornerback Alonzo Dennard stepped in front of Wayne for the interception at the 13-yard line and bolted down the sideline with only Luck to beat. Luck dived for Dennard’s legs but missed. In his frustration, Luck slammed his hand into the turf three times.

Luck was met by interim coach Bruce Arians at the sideline, who told him he had just made a pretty basic mistake.

“It’s fundamentals,” Arians said. “I mean, you can’t throw them that late and he knows it. We talked about it and he was mad at himself. And that is the beauty of him. He will come off and tell you exactly what he is thinking and we don’t hide anything from each other. So, it was something he knew he couldn’t do, but he did it anyway. He threw it out there late and inside, and you can’t do that.”

In all, Luck was no match for Brady. The Colts' rookie finished with a passer rating of 63.3, completing only 27 of 50 passes. He at least finished with 334 yards.

What Luck is focused on now is getting back to see Brady again this year. It’s a possibility should the Colts manage to squeeze into the AFC playoffs and the Patriots (7-3) wind up out of position for one of the conference’s first-round byes.

While this might be the kind of game most coaches would like their young quarterbacks to zap from their memory banks, Arians is going to make sure Luck and all the Colts pay this one special mind just in case they come back to Gillette Stadium in two months.

“You better damn sure remember it,” Arians said. “Because you hope to be back here and you don’t want to forget it. You don’t throw things away in this business, you learn from it. We’ll watch this tape real hard tomorrow and we’ll get better from it.”

The Colts (6-4) have six games remaining and they’ve got a very good shot at winning at least three of them. If Luck takes the lumps he got in this game and learns from them, he just might get to see—and say hello to—Brady again.